Matt Berry was always convinced that, should he be lucky enough to avoid getting a ‘normal’ job, he would be a musician. His life would follow a certain path which, whilst not obviously attractive to most, would have seen him be ‘in a number of bands that would get dropped by the record company.’. So far it hasn’t quite turned out like that at all. 

‘Witchazel’ announced Berry as a writer of some distinction, MOJO praising an album ‘coming from a place of real eccentricity and imagination’, The Guardian finding the whole thing ‘genuinely impressive’,The Times declaring Matt a ‘multi-instrumental pysch-folk genius’  and Q summing it up neatly for the newcomers as ‘the sound of the Fleet Foxes had they grown up within earshot of the M25’.

Sending out echoes of jazz, electronica, ambient music and minimalism, Mercury Prize nominated Portico Quartet have created their own singular, cinematic sound over the course of five lauded studio albums and one EP.

From the band’s 2007 breakthrough Knee-Deep in the North Sea, and the John Leckie produced Isla in 2010, to the self-titled recording Portico Quartet in 2012, the heralded Art In The Age Of Automation in 2017 and the critically acclaimed Memory Streams in 2019, each album has seen the band expand its palate or explore new trajectories. 

"Portico Quartet continue to plough their own furrow on their gorgeous new album Memory Streams" Bleep

Unleashing sonic creativity. Shaping the future of software instruments with creative excellence.

8dio is a company specialized in advanced deep-sampling of music instruments - developed by Academy Award Winning composer, Troels Folmann. 

8Dio products are featured in the majority of current blockbusters (ex. Avatar, James Bond, Interstellar, Dark Knight Rises, Transformers, District 9), TV-shows (ex. Game of Thrones, Dexter, CSI, NCIS) and video games (ex. Overwatch, Diablo 3, Madden, Starcraft 2, Mass Effect 3, Need For Speed series) and used by many of the highest profile artists, composers and top 40 producers in the industry.

8Dio is the largest deep-sampled instrument catalogue in the world from the new generation Orchestral Products, Hybrid Scoring Tools to the best sounding Epic- and Angelic Choirs, from industry standard Epic Percussion series to beautiful Solo Voices from around the world, from gorgeous Tuned Percussion to custom made instruments.

https://akirakosemura.com/
Akira Kosemura (he/him) is a composer and pianist hailing from Tokyo, Japan. He is a prolific artist, constantly releasing solo albums and composing music for films, TV drama, games, stage, and commercial music.

Akira founded his own label Schole Records early on after his solo album It’s on Everything released in 2007 while he was still in school. In 2017 and 2018 Akira’s music was ranked in Spotify’s “Most Played Japanese Artists/Songs Top 10”, and his works have been highly acclaimed on media around the world, including US music media Pitchfork, Australian newspaper THE AGE, French public broadcast FIP, and Canadian public broadcast Ici Musique.

Akira’s major score works include Fragments of The Last Will by Takahisa Zeze, the Cannes 2020 featured film True Mothers (Asa Ga Kuru) directed by Naomi Kawase, Hollywood produced drama series Love Is__, the Nintendo Switch game Jack Jeanne produced by Sui Ishida, the TBS drama series Chugakusei Nikki, the contemporary ballet piece MANON, and the Japan Pavilion in Milano EXPO. His music pieces were also featured in the Amazon original movie Jonas Brothers’ CHASING HAPPINESS, the Venice Film Festival Golden Lion awarded director Audrey Diwan’s debut film Mais vous etes fous (Losing It), and the Toho movie Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare.

In recent years, he has worked on projects in different media such as SK-II STUDIO’s documentary The Center Lane (featuring Rikako Ikee), directed by Hirokazu Koreeda, the runway music for a collection from apparel brand TAKAHIROMIYASHITA The Soloist., as well as music for LA MER BLUE HEART, LAND ROVER, and L’OCCITANE. Akira has also co-produced a song with American musician Devendra Banhart.

In addition to his versatility and diverse portfolio, Akira has been working on a world scale. In 2022 he signed a contract with prestigious Decca Records, and the EP Pause (almost equal to) Play was released worldwide. Akira’s music was also sampled in John Legend’s song “The Other Ones feat. Rhapsody” included in his new album Legend Act I & II. And Akira’s first major album SEASONS was released on Decca Records (UMG) on June 30, 2023.

Initially founded in 2002 as an offshoot of the celebrated Knitting Factory club in lower Manhattan, Knitting Factory Records, along with the new Knitting Factory club in Brooklyn, was reborn in 2009 with the acquisition and re-release of the Fela Kuti catalog. KFR also encompasses the catalogs of Instinct Records, Shadow Records, Shimmy Disc, and Evolver Records.

In partnership with Partisan Records, a Brooklyn-based artist-run label, Knitting Factory Records strives to honor the music of an eclectic array of relevant artists drawn from both the past and the present.

“Music is the weapon. Music is the thing of the future. Music is the weapon of the future.” - Fela Kuti

Asma Ghanem is a Palestinian visual artist & experimental musician, born in Damascus-Syria(1991). She has a B.A. from The International Academy of Arts-Palestine & M.A. degree in Audio-Visual Arts from ISDAT(École supérieure des beaux-arts de Toulouse)in France. Asma has participated in exhibitions, residencies and workshops in Italy, Germany, France, Austria, USA, Lebanon, UAE, Norway, Jordan and Palestine and was awarded the 3rd prize in the YAYA (The Young Artist Award- The Hassan Hourani Award, 2016)for her experimental music project (Homeland is…). She was also awarded a special mention in the Palest’in & out Festival in Paris in 2015 for her Photography project. Asma participated as a Fellow in OneBeat 2017 global music exchange, a U.S. State Department initiative managed by Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation that each year brings outstanding individual musicians from around the world to the U.S. for four weeks of collaborative creation, performance, and engagement with communities.
For more information & projects: asma.ghanem.art@gmail.com

Professional trombonist specialising in contemporary and improvised music.

http://garyfrance.com/
Performer/Educator/Sound Artist

Duo from north Wales.
https://fullofjoyrecords.bandcamp.com

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